John Newton, I love John Newton. If you've never
read his biography about him, Do so, it's well worth reading. I go back to Genesis 8 with them. It's significant that the Lord
spent only two chapters on the creation, and yet four long chapters
on the destruction of the world by flood. and the salvation of
some by an ark that Noah made. Because though the heavens declare
God's glory, God's greatest glory is seen in His goodness and mercy
and grace in the saving of sinners by Jesus Christ, unworthy sinners,
guilty sinners by Jesus Christ. And like the whole book, the
creation was only two chapters, and then from chapter 3 of Genesis,
to the end of the book is about this great salvation through
Jesus Christ. Do you remember when the Lord
preached to the disciples on the road to Emmaus? And they
did not know who He was, but they just knew He was a magical
preacher. And He preached to them, beginning
in the books of Moses. Do you remember that? Surely,
surely, He must have spoken on Noah and that ark, because it's
such a wonderful picture, one of the first and clearest pictures
of Christ our Lord. And so for these reasons, we
have spent much time here. And then the Lord, remember,
gave us a clue as to His return, and He said, and He used Noah,
He said, as in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son
of Man be. So that's why we have spent so much time here, plus
I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I've learned so much more. It
was 1995 when we looked at this before. Hopefully we've grown
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and so much more
seen like this story. I remember enjoying it, but some
more things I've seen since then. Tonight's story is The Raven
and the Dove, sent out by Noah. And only one of them returned
to it. Noah represents the Lord Jesus Christ here. The ark represents
his church, the kingdom of God. Now, the kingdom of God cometh
not with observation, our Lord said. There are many who profess
to be in it, in the church. There are many who say they are,
but you have to be tested. tried and proven to know whether
you're in the kingdom of God. The Lord likened the kingdom
of God in his parables to a field, remember? And in that field there
were wheat and there were tares. And then he likened the kingdom
of God to a net. The net went out and enclosed
many fish and some were good and some were bad. The bad were
cast out. And then he likened the kingdom
of God to a tree in which many fowls made their habitation. Doves
and rapins. So this is a good picture of
this kingdom of God and who is true and who is false, a dove
or a raven. Now it came to pass, verse 6,
it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the
window of the ark which he had made and sent forth a raven which
went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off
the earth. And also he sent forth a dove
from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face
Now, these are two birds, two animals of the same species.
They're birds. Both of them are birds, and they're
both in this ark. But they have different natures.
They're two birds of the same species, but they have different
natures. And this world is full of people,
isn't it? They're all sons of Adam by nature. human beings, same species, mankind,
male and female, but there are some that are of the world and
there are some that are not of the world. There are some who
are sons and daughters of the God of this world and there are
some who are the sons of God who live in this world. And how
they are known are by these two different natures. Two different
nature. One is flesh and one is spirit. One is a son of Adam and one
is a son of God, born of God. They're known and they're known.
These natures come out by the same test which Noah tested these
two birds. They both sent out into the world.
They both sent out into the world and their response and how they
act and What they think of this God-forsaken world that God destroyed,
it reveals their nature. And I remind you, only one found
no rest. Only one kept coming back to
Noah, didn't it? The other one left for good.
And one needed Noah and the ark, and all those in the ark couldn't
stay away. Now you know. The raven, it says
he sent forth a raven and it went forth to and fro until the
waters were dried up from off the earth. The raven flew around
here and there and would like here and there. A raven is a
scavenger. A raven is a flesh-eating bird. That's that bird you see out
on the highway eating what we grossly call robed kale. No, that's what that is. You've
heard so many words that we get from this word. Ravenous. Ravenous. An insatiable appetite
for flesh. For dead things. That's a raven. Can't get enough of the dead
things. Carnal things. Corrupt things. That's a raven. The Lord said
to a Pharisee one time. He was speaking to a Pharisee.
He said, And there's no more flesh in the world than there
is in religion. More flesh in religion, false
religion, than anywhere else. You'll see that in a minute.
But the Lord said to the Pharisee one time, He said, You Pharisees
make the outside of the cup clean and the cup of the platter clean,
but your inward part is full of ravening. and wickedness, ravening, ravenous,
ravish, ravish, the word ravish comes from this too, where someone,
rape comes from it. Someone that forces another for
fleshly appetite. A raven's true nature was known
when it was sent out into this world. He loved the world. He
loved the world, the things of this world. He went out and he
found the things he loved. And he loved the things he found.
Flesh. Rotten, corrupt flesh. Did not
our Lord say, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him? This is a test. All that is in
the world. This is what the Lord says of
this present evil world. This is what he calls it. this
present evil world. He said, all that is in the world
is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life. And the Lord uses lust because
what do you think when you think of lust? You think of something
wicked, don't you? You think of something evil.
You think of something, an insatiable desire or appetite, don't you?
Well, that's what it is. That's what it is. And it's clear that
the unbelieving world, the people in this world who have no religious
pretense or whatever, it's clear that they love filth, isn't it? And it's getting worse, and people
are so-called coming out of the closet and all this. They're
declaring their sin as Sodom, our Lord said, in Isaiah. That's clear. But as I said,
the worst evils that take place in this world are in false religion. Once again, I thought someone
was going to be here tonight to visit. And he needed to hear
this, but he wasn't. He's not. At any rate, we are
in Revelation 18, and it talks about Babylonian religion. And
it says, and it calls religion, the religion of Babylon, the
great whore. What is a whore? She plows her
trade. She's a flesh peddler. If you read Proverbs 7, the whole
chapter is about a harlot enticing the simple with perfume and with
her bed and with all of these riches and deities and things
of the flesh. And she gets him in. And that's
how religion entices the people of this world. In Revelation
18, he says, "...a habitation of every unclean and hurtful
bird, ravening wolves and corruption,
religion with all its abomination." I'll get off of this in a minute,
but the Lord did plainly give us this picture. He sent a raven
out and religion. with all of its abomination,
how it uses the flesh. At one time when our Lord came
into His temple, that temple that was supposed to be the house
of God for the worship of God, the only thing that was to be
done there was the reading of God's Word, prayer to God and
the sacrifice. That was it, wasn't it? And it's
still the same. It's still supposed to be that
way. But our Lord, remember, planted that whip. He was never
so angry. Never so angry as when He went
into that temple where the abomination of desolation had begun. And they were making it a den
of thieves with selling and all of that, money raising. It's an abomination. It's an
abomination. And with all these things that
go on in the name of God today, yet it's all flesh. Games, fun,
bake sales, yard sales, fashion shows. Can you imagine in your
wildest dreams, Peter and Paul condoning a fashion show in the
church house? Or a bake sale? Or a spaghetti
dinner? Flesh. Flesh. Flesh. And the worst kind of flesh of
all is man's glory. Now, they peddle man's glory.
God's glory. Ichabod is over the door. The
glory has departed. God's glory has departed. While
man's will, man's works, man's doings are all glorified. What men do for God rather than
what God does for man. Flesh. And if anybody Anybody
that can find satisfaction in that. Anybody. It's not a matter of
ignorance. It's not just being wrong on doctrine. It's the heart. If anyone can find satisfaction,
number one, in the world. We're talking about the things
of this world. Real satisfaction. Live in it
and live for it. Not vexed by it. Anybody can
live in it and not be like Lot, vexed by it. It must be a raven. Anybody who can get satisfaction
from religion today and not be vexed by it, anybody who can
be content in that must not be a dove. Notice in verse 7, it says he
went to and fro. Went to and fro like so many
church hoppers. Going here and there, looking
for this and looking for that. Looking for this. What are you
looking for? What are you looking for? One time, some people came
to the Lord, some men came to the Lord, and he said, what are
you looking for? You'll find what you're looking
for. If you're looking for a church which has a family-oriented program,
you'll find it. Most of them. If you're looking
for a church that has great music, well, you'll find that. If you're
looking for a church that has you know, singles ministry, you'll
find that and you'll find your husband and wife. If you're looking
for the truth, you'll find that too. But it's hard to find. It's
hard to find. That's what the church is supposed
to be, a pillar and ground of the truth. And Isaiah 59, he
talks about none calling for the truth. None calling for the
truth. A person looking for the truth
will find it, and when they find it, they won't need to look any
further with it. Huh? We found it. What? And what? A truth person. Him. We found
him. Those men said to the Lord, he
said, whom seek, what are you looking for? They said, Master,
where do you dwell? He said, well, come and see. Apparently
they stayed with him from then on. All right. Enough of that
old black bird. Now also he sent forth a dove
from him to see if the waters were abated. You know what a
dove is? A dove is a poor man's bird. Everyone had to have, if you
were a sinner, you had to have a sacrifice. You had to have
an offering. You'd bring an offering before
the Lord. middle class or rich, you would have a lamb. You'd
have many if you could bring a lamb, every man a lamb. But
if you were too poor and couldn't afford a lamb, then you'd bring
a dove. It's a poor man's sacrifice.
And this gospel is for the poor. This gospel is to the poor. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. A dove feeds on not dead things,
seeds mostly. Seeds. Seeds are living things. Hidden. And what is a seed? The Word of God. Hidden. I like to feed the birds, and
the squirrels like to feed on my feed that's supposed to be
for the birds. Don't they, Irene? But anyway, down on the ground,
and my bird feeder is too small for big birds, although woodpeckers
sure have a go at it. But down on the ground, invariably,
you'll see some mourning doves down there. And they're eating
that seed. They love that seed. They feed
on seeds, greenery, light living things. A dove is a gregarious
animal. That is, it needs others, like
sheep. A dove has its mate. You know,
we call them mourning doves for a reason. You hear them out there
cooing. If you ever see one by itself,
it's a rare thing. And what has happened, perhaps,
is they've lost their mate. But a dove has to have its mate,
unlike a raven. It's a solitary bird. A dove
has to have its mate. Well, all of this is a picture
of the believer. In the Song of Solomon, the Lord
himself is called a dove. Oh, how I love this book. It's
been a long time since we've looked at it. But Christ himself
is called a dove. The church calls him, Oh, my
dove that are in the clefts of the rocks. My beloved is mine,
and I am his. And then the Lord himself calls
her a dove, the church. people in verse 1 of chapter
4, Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair, thou hast
dove's eyes. So Christ is the dove and he's
the poor man sacrificing. And Christ's people bear his
image. They are created anew. They are
born of God and they've been given a new nature created in
the image of Christ. like a dove. Wise as serpent,
but harmless as dove. Now, that's what the Lord said
when he sent forth his disciples out into this world. That's what
he told them. Now, Noah sent forth this dove. He sent forth
this dove out into the world to see if the waters were bathed.
He didn't. When he opened that window, he didn't. But this is
written for our learning. written for our learning. And
it says in verse 9, but the dove found no rest for the soul of
her foot. The raven, when the raven was
out there, the raven would land on a bloated carcass floating
in the water. That's what he was doing. He
was landing from one vile, stinking, filthy, rotten piece of flesh
to another. He was going from one evil to
a worse evil. To and fro. And it was finding
great satisfaction in all that. But the dove, it says, flew here
and there, to and fro, and saw nothing but corruption. Everything
in it was repulsive to her nature. Maybe she did land on one of
those, but it was repulsive to her nature. It was stinking flesh
to her. She saw the raven feasting, perhaps. And she thought, that
poor bird. In the Ecclesiastes, Solomon
wrote a whole book, Ecclesiastes, about this flesh and what he
concluded. And the Lord had him experiment
with everything for our sake. And every one of us, if we live
long enough, we will experience everything that Solomon experienced
to a lesser degree, won't we? We go through everything that
he went through. He tried laughter, he tried this, he tried sorrow,
he tried whatever. Everything. Riches and music
and trying to find some satisfaction. And because he's a child of God,
because God has given him a new nature, wisdom from above, he
concluded that vanity of vanities, all flesh is vanity. There's
nothing in this world but corrupt flesh. That which is flesh is
flesh. There's no satisfaction there.
And every child of God, born of God, realizes that. Why can't
she find rest? Now listen, this is a blessed
thing to think of. The raven found places to rest.
But she could find no rest. It was not because she did not
have a will and a desire to find rest out there. And perhaps she tried, you know,
something. And it made her sick. And she
quickly flew away. Every believer still has an old
man within them. And I heard one man deal with
this story as both of these being the two natures of the believer,
being a raven and a dove. And it was good what he said.
But for the sake of our time tonight, she had a will. She wanted to find red, and every
believer still has an old man that desires some of the things
of this world, and we're lying if we say we don't. There are
pleasures in sin, for instance. There are some things that still
appeal to us. There's still this lust of the flesh and lust of
the eyes. Pride? Well, and as I said, perhaps
she tried something and we did it. No, we didn't. And it may be
sweet to our taste, but it leaves our bellies bitter, doesn't it? It has an awful sin. There are pleasures in sin for
a season, but the aftertaste is not worth it, is it? It leaves
a bitter gall of bitterness in you. She still has a memory. She still has a memory. She once
lived out there. She had a home out there. A dovecote. A nest. She had friends. She
had friends. There were only seven doves to
save. Doves clean animal, by the way.
I meant to say that. Doves clean animal. Ravens ugly. By the Lord's design. But she
had a memory of her old haunts, her old places, and maybe she
went looking for them. Huh? Have you? That's when you
get in your forties. You think, I wonder. So she's
not without a memory. And she has wings. She's free
to fly. She's free to go. Go where she will. Find what
she will. But she finds no rest. No place to nest. No abiding
place. Why? She's a dove. It's her nature to not leave
her mate. Okay? She has a mate for life. He has a new dwelling place in
that ark, a new dovecote, new friends, new family. And the
chief reason she has a new master, Noah. Noah chose her. Noah spared her. Noah brought
her in unto him. And she belonged to Noah, and
she had to return to Noah. She had to retire. Noah and that
ark was her life for a year. Her love, her home, her dwelling
place. And that's a picture of a believer.
We have here no continuing city. I love Hebrews 11. We've looked at that more than
any other chapter in all the Bible, 50 times or more. But it says those who are God's
people, And they are strangers and pilgrims, and they seek a
country. And it says, if they had been
mindful of that country which they came out of, they might
have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better
country, that is, a heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, and he hath prepared for them a city.
place whose builder and maker is God, and Christ is their life. Not a part of their life, but
Christ is their life. God's people are their family,
and Christ is their love and their great desire. We have strong
desires for the things of this world. We do. There's no denying
it. We have an imagination that often
runs wild in it. We have memories. We have memory,
but if we have a new nature, we must have Christ and we must
return. We must have his people. We must
have his gospel. So this dove starts flying home. Now, how long she was out? The
second time she was out all day. But you can imagine she found
no rest for her feet, so she was tired and weary and her wings
were heavy laden. And perhaps trying to land somewhere,
her feet became filthy and mired in the clay. And she's a long
way off from that ark when she finally spots it. And when she
sees that ark, it's nothing but an old brown boat. But to her,
it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. The raven, it
thought nothing of it. The raven would rather dwell
on stinking, rotten flesh. But that dove had to get to that
ark. Had to just get to that ark. And so it is with every
child of God. We go out into the world. Our
Lord says you're clean, but your feet get filthy. Mired in this
clay. We feel like the world drags
us down. Pulls us down. And we get tired
and weary and heavy laden. And what do you think of when
you think of this little place? What do you think of when you
think of the gospel, the church, and God's people and the gospel? You think it's altogether lovely,
don't you? What the world passes by and
thinks nothing of, you think the world of. More than the world.
And look at verse 9. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful
thing this is. It says, She found no rest, so she returned unto
Him. You see who she's going to? Unto
Noah. Into the ark. For the waters
were on the face of the whole earth. And when she returned,
when she got back to the ark, lo and behold, she found Noah
waiting. The window was wide open. And
she found Noah with his arms wide open. Come, my dove, my
love. And when you go out in this world
and come back to our Lord, you will find Him every time ready
to pardon. Ready to pardon. Come unto me, He said. labor
and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And to whom coming? To whom coming? I love the story. I have to make time for this,
but I love the story of the prodigal son. And I read an illustration
years ago of a real prodigal son leaving home And he was gone
a long time, and he wasted his substance like the other prodigal.
And he called his parents and told them he'd like to come home
if they'd happen. If they'd happen. And, well,
he got an answering machine. They weren't there. So he left
a message. And he said, I'd like to come
home if you'll have me. And he says, if you'll have me,
leave a white towel on the clothesline as a sign that I'm welcome. I hope I can get through this.
Well, he came home. And when he started approaching
that house, he looked and he saw on the clothesline a white
towel and a white sheet. and white washcloths, and white
dishcloths, and white underwear, and everything white in the house. An abundant welcome. Come, you're
welcome. Come. Come unto me. If you've
gone astray, the Lord says, to whom coming? Keep coming. Be
ready to pardon. Come back. Well, he sent her out again. Now, if
you find yourself needing Christ and his gospel and his people,
you'll find the window always open, you'll find the Lord ready
to pardon, and you'll find rest. But he sent her out again. Look
at verse, this is wonderful, verse 10 and 11. He stayed yet
other seven days, waited seven days, and again he sent forth
the dove out of the ark. And she was gone all day. And
you know, our life is compared to a day, isn't it? A day. A period of time. It's a short
period of time. But it's in the world we have
tribulation. Days are evil. The dove came
in to him. See who she keeps coming, returning
to him in the evening. And lo, in her mouth was an olive
leaf. plucked off. An olive leaf, if
no one knew, the waters abated. The waters resided from the earth. An olive leaf, what's the symbolism
here? Well, this olive leaf is a symbol
of hope. In the midst of a sinful, dead
world, there's hope. There's life to be found. An
olive leaf plucked. A green leaf, not a brown leaf,
not a dead leaf, not a fig leaf. It wasn't a fig leaf. It was
an olive leaf plucked. She plucked it. From where? An
olive tree that was growing. In the midst of that dead world,
there was an olive tree growing. A fruitful tree. Who is our Lord
called? The tree of life. In the Revelation
it says, in the leaves of that tree are for the healing of the
nation. Pluck any one leaf and you'll find healing. A symbol
of hope. There's life. There's life in
Christ. The tree of life. Knowledge and
peace. We've always thought of the olive
branch. She brought a leaf, not a branch.
But the olive branch and the dove has always been a symbol
of peace, hasn't it? Harmless as dove, and the olive
branch as a symbol of peace. And she brought that back and
it says, no one knew that water was obeyed. God's anger is appeased. God is not angry at all. And
God is not angry with those who come to Him, who come to God
by Christ. You say you receive Him. And
you come bring Him peace. What? The blood of Christ. He
is our faith. Come by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, bringing that offering, that is, faith in His offering
to Him. And you're accepted. You're accepted
over and over again. Now, I thought about this, and
I'll quit. She stayed back in that ark for
seven days. What did she do? Well, Noah put
her back in her dovecote with her friends. I think she took
that leaf with her. There's hope. There's hope. And that's the message that we
bring, isn't it? There's hope. There's life. And
only in Christ. Now she goes out again. Verse
12. And he stayed yet another seven
days, and that's the time of perfection, and sent forth the
dove, which returned not again unto him any more. There's going
to come a time when we are going to be like Enoch. We're going
to walk out into this world to our job or wherever it may be,
wherever the Lord sends us, and we're not coming back. We're
going to our long home. Why did she not come back? The
Lord took her. The Lord took her. Now, listen
to this in closing. Psalm 55 says, that I had wings like a dove? Then would I fly away and be
at rest? Are you a dove? Do you find all
you need in Christ? Can't stay away? You have to
have your mate and you find the things of this world repulsive. Well, good news. Christ receiveth
all love. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, Thy Word is so full
of marvelous things, wondrous things, glorious things, wisdom
from above. Thou who art wisdom wrote this
book. We see Your genius in every line,
every word. This is not of any private interpretation. We know that beyond a shadow
of a doubt. But holy men spake as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. And they all tell the wondrous
story of Christ, our Redeemer, our Noah, in whom we find rest. Lord, thank You. Thank You for
revealing the truth to us. We want to grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ. We want to grow in love with
Him and out of love with this world. Set our affection on things
above. Make us like this dove keep coming
back to you for rest, to find in you all that we need. And
we know we'll find you ready to pardon. And it's in Christ's
name we meet here tonight, and for His glory and honor, amen.